Bag



W. H. SIVIITH.`

BAG.

APPLICAUON FHYED AUG 26.1921.

l ,41:30 ,26? u Patented Sept. 26, 1922.,

Y Patented sept. 2a, i922.

BAG.

Application led August 26, 1921. Serial No. 495,619.

To aZZ whom t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Bags, of which thefollowing is a speciiication.

This invention relates to an improved bag that is held in shape by aninconspicuous means so that the upper or softer part of the bag, whichalso serves to hold up the bag frame, does not collapse and the centerof the bag does not fall in, the weight of this upper portion of the bagand of the frame being sustained by the aforesaid means.

The invention is designed to provide a device of this kind which doesnot add Inaterially to the wei ht of the bag and which does not makethe. ag any more bulky, and which is cheaply placed in the bag.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich Figurel is aperT spective view of a bagmade according to my improvedinvention, on an enlarged scale, taken on the plane indicated by theline 2-2 in Figure 1 and showing the corner of the.bag. Figure 3 is anenlarged section taken on line 3-3 in Figure 2. Figure 4 is aperspective view of one end of one of the bag sections, showing amodified form of construction, and Figure 5 is a detail section taken onthe plane indicated by line 5 in Figure 4.

The particular kind of bag is immaterial, the illustration, however,showing a ba with a lowerl portion 10, the sides 11 and ends 12 of whichare made substantially stiii' at the lower portion and have their upperportions flexible, being adapted to be drawn together at the center andheld closed by any suitable form of bag frame 13, which bag frame is notdescribed in detail since its details do not form a part of thisinvention.

The upper exible portions of bags of this kind, after the bag has beenused a while or if any weight has been sustained by the bag, settle orcollapse and become misshapen, and as a result of this the leathereventually cracks. To overcome this Il arrange spring means which do notexert suiiicient pressure to. interfere with the opening of the bag, butsuch spring means holding the upper part of the bag in its flexednatural shape. Such means includes spring wires 14, these beingpreferably placed one in each corner of the and Figure 2 is a sectionbag and being secured so as to be not seen from the outside and to formno appreciable obstruction on the inside. The wires are se` cured attheir upper ends to the top of the bag and are arranged in channels orpassa es in the corners of the bag, being exten ed intothe lower stiffpart of the bag, but terminating short of the bottom so that when thebag is opened and the wires are thus straightened, the bottom ends ofthe wires can move longitudinally, thus making the opening of the bageasier and preventing the ends of wires from doing any damage by anendwise thrust on the material of the Pghe preferred way of fasteningthis spring wire 14 is by securing it in a welt 15, which, as will beseen particularly from Figure encloses the wire 14, and the ends 16 ofthe welt being sewed to the abutting edges of the side and end of thebag, this makes a substantial stem or backing for the welt and has anormal tendency to hold the weltin its curved position, as shown inFigures 1 land 2. The upper part of the wire can be arranged so that itswings with the vbag frame and can be attached thereto in differentways; either by securing it directly to the frame or having it attachedthereto by some intermediate element.

In Figures 1 and 2 I show the wire secured directly to the frame byforming a loop 17 which can be in the bag, in the case of a pinned inbag one of the pins for fastening the material of i the bag to the framebeing convenient for such attachment.

Bags other than have the wire attached as shown in Figures 4 and 5, inwhich the end of the wire and the end of the welt abut against the bagframe 13, the stitching 19, which is sewed through perforations in thebag frame, oingv through the ends of the welt and thus orming anabutment so that when the bag is swung vopen the welt and the wire in itare carried away ,from the` center of the bag. The bottom end 20 of thewire is preferably terminated short of the bottom of the welt so thatthere is excess room beyond the end of the wire so that the wire can beslid in the welt, and as bags of this kind are usually provided with acorner piece 21, this portion of the bag is substantially stiff.

The .welt usually lits around the wire tightly so that @helfe is nolongitudinal move` pinned in bags cany passedover a pin 18 ment of thewire under normal conditions, and the wire is held in position in thewelt by friction when the welt is flexed, as in .Figures 1 and 2, butwhen the bag is open and the welt is straightened out along With thesides of the bag, the wire has room so that its end can travellongitudinally in the welt and there is no excessive resistance to theopening of the bag, and furthermore, the end of the wire will notpuncture the bag, since it is so arranged that it does not abut againstany portion of `the bag, and furthermore, no rigid inside elements arenecessary for holding this end of the Wire in position.

Bags have been made previously wJith Sllh wire strips in them, but theirattachment to the bag being placed at an unprotected part of the bageventually causes the end of the spring strip or wire to pass throughthe leather, or the end of the wire is secu-red to a metal frame whichis built into the bag and which makes the bag very heavy.

ll claim:

1. A bag having a welt in each corner thereof, and a springwire enclosedin each welt, the top of the wire being attached to the bag frame andthe bottom end of the wire terminating short of the bottom of the welt,whereby the wire can move longitudinally in the welt when the wire isstraightened by reason of opening the bag.

A bag having its sides and'ends joined at the corners and having a weltarranged at such junctures, a bag'frame to which the sides and ends arejoined at the center of the bag, and a spring wire in each welt andattache-d to the frame so as to be moved outwardly when the bag isopened, the wire fitting in the welt so as to be held therein againstlongitudinal movement when the welt is flexed, the wire terminatingshort of the bottom of the welt so as to permit longitudinal movement ofthe wire in the welt when the welt is straightened.

3. A bag having a lower part that is comparatively stift' and an upperpart that is flexible, a bag frame to which the upper part is secured,the body portion of the bag including welts located at the corners andextending through the lower and upper portions, and spring wires in thewelts, said reenforced welts forming the sole means for holding theupper part of the bag in shape by applying a diagonal outward tensionthereon when the bag is shut.

4. A bag having a stiff lower portion and a flexible upper portion, thebag havingy I passages for wires extending from the top ofthe bag intothe stili' lower portion, and wires in said passages, said wiresterminating short of the bottom of their respective passages when thebag is shut.

lin testimony that ll claim the foregoing, l have hereto set my hand,this 25th day of August, 1921.

lVliLLllAM lill. SMll'llH.

